May 19, 2013

Blossoms

Washington, D.C. may have its cherry blossoms, but we've got our apple blossoms ... and everywhere we look right now, it's stunning. Apple trees are blossoming across the farm. I took the photo above on Saturday evening; you can see that different trees are in different stages of blossoming. I took this next shot this morning from the front porch:

Like the trees in the first photo, these are old orchard trees, but in the background, you can see a wild apple tree blossoming at the edge of the woods. (Click on photos for larger images.)

Like any fruit tree, apple trees need tending to remain healthy and productive. No one has pruned the apple trees here at the farm in at least 30 years, perhaps longer, and they definitely needed help. We were fortunate to find a lady from nearby Vermont, Nancy Murray, who runs a business called Northern Spy Apple Tree Pruning.(Northern Spy is the name of an old-time New England heirloom apple.) She makes her living tending apple trees in Vermont and New Hampshire for people who want to preserve and improve their orchards. Nancy made her first visits in April and worked on the trees in the photo above, which she called "godmother trees" because of their age.

Here's a close-up of that tree by the porch:

Last year we had few blossoms -- and thus little fruit -- because of the weird weather, so we're delighted to see the trees all in bloom this year!

What beautiful trees. Love the Northern Spy! I love this time of year and most especially the beautiful trees, fruitful or otherwise. I have a dwarf meyer lemon tree but because of where I live I have to keep it indoors about 8 months a year. But the aroma, the blooms and the lemons are all worth it! To paraphrase an old poem - there's nothing as lovely as a tree!